Saturday, November 23, 2013

A federal appeals court upheld the constitutionality of a lifetime ban on gun possession for anyone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held Monday that a person convicted of domestic violence is disqualified from the core right of Second Amendment to possess firearms for defense of the home.

The only two exceptions are: if the conviction is expunged or set aside and if the offender is pardoned and has his or her civil rights restored.

Daniel E. Chovan, of San Diego, challenged the law as unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing a personal right to possess handguns found the core of the Second Amendment right “is to allow ‘law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home,’” the opinion states.

Chovan didn’t meet that requirement.

“Keeping guns from domestic violence misdemeanants is substantially related to the broader interest of preventing domestic gun violence,” wrote Judge Harry Pregerson. Because the gun ban “is supported by an important government interest and substantially related to that interest, the statute passes constitutional muster…” he said.

Democratic Virginia Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe has appointed Lori Haas, the Virginia State Director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, to his 54-member bipartisan transition team.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violenceopposes the “insurrectionist ideology” of the National Rifle Association and supports banning so-called “assault weapons,” as well as rolling back concealed carry laws, according to its website.

During the Virginia gubernatorial election, McAuliffe said he supported Colorado’s gun-control measures that resulted in the recall of two state senators.

McAuliffe’s stances earned him an “F” rating from the NRA. The NRA spent more than $500,000 against McAuliffe in the election.

The National Rifle Association is suing the city of San Francisco, claiming the city violated the Second Amendment with a new ordinance banning possession of magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the lawsuit was filed Tuesday in response to the recently approved measure. The new law expands an existing ban on sales of large-capacity gun magazines and requires owners who have those magazines to turn them over to police within 90 days starting next month.

The lawsuit says limiting magazine capacity to 10 rounds gives violent criminals an edge over people trying to protect themselves.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled people have the right to possess handguns in their home for self-defense. NRA attorneys contend weapons holding more than 10 cartridges are in the same category.

Friday, November 22, 2013

The name David Caton may not ring a bell, but you surely know at least one of his campaigns. He's the guy who flies banners over Disney Worldwhenever the "Gay Day" event comes to the Magic Kingdom, warning anyone in the area of the pesky LGBT people who might dare to see themselves as equally as entitled to riding Splash Mountain as anyone else.

Caton has also gone after several different TV shows and networks for being too inclusive of LGBT human beings. For example, he claims to have convinced advertisers to pull from the hit Modern Family "because the show labels a same-sex couple with an adopted child as a modern family and attempts to normalize homosexuality by contrasting it with heterosexual couples that the show characterizes as abnormal." Another was Degrassi, which Caton went after for"affirming the homosexual and transgender lifestyles" coupled with attacks against the network, Teen Nick, for airing public service announcements "which lead children and teens toward, not away from embracing these behaviors."

Oh, and Mr. Caton also uses "facts" from discredited researcher like Paul Cameron (PAUL. CAMERON!) to go after programs that are designed to support and protect LGBT youth. Just this year, Mr. Caton flew another round banners over Lady Gaga concerts reading "not born this way" in protest of the Born This Way Bus and the LGBT organizations (Bron This Way Foundation, Trevor Project, Campus Pride, etc.) involved.

But it's not just LGBT. Oh no, no, no. Mr. Caton, who waged such a high profile onslaught against the All American Muslim TV show a few years back that it lead the New York Times to describe Caton as "Waging a One-Man War on American Muslims", has determined that 2013 will be the year that his organization takes on "countering the Islamist agenda in America" as its top priority.

Which leads us to Caton's latest. In a campaign you'll likely hear more about in the days to come, the longtime anti-LGBT activist is now taking on Al Jazeera America, which launches nationwide today. Caton is claiming that his efforts have influence a whopping one hundred eighteen companies—ranging from small to massive, in all industries—to pull their advertising from the network.

If you enlarge the image you'll see that Louisiana has by far the most prisoners. Considering that they do not have the most people, the rate of incarceration there is incredible. Yet, they also rank number one in murders and violence. How can this be? The gun-rights fanatics tell us the problem is not with the lack of gun laws but with the fact that we don't keep dangerous people in prison long enough.

Obviously this isn't the case in Louisiana.

It is true that many of those incarcerated shouldn't be there. But the estimate of non-violent drug offenders is only about 25%. Remove them and the US still wears the crown as the most prison-friendly country in the world and Louisiana still holds the state record.

Drudge RetortGeorge Zimmerman's girlfriend Samantha Scheibe told an Orlando TV station that he's been suffering deep depression, threatening suicide and is fascinated with guns. Scheibe told WKMG that Zimmerman threatened to take his own life on more than one occasion, and she said the threats seem to come about when he's not generating news headlines. She believes Zimmerman enjoyed the attention he was getting in the news, while also knowing he wasn't able to carve out a "normal existence."

Todd Francis, 55, during arraignment in connection with the death of neighbor Eric Klyaz, who had been playing with Francis' 9-year-old daughter when the gun was fired Pool photoLocal news reports

The owner of a gun used in the accidental shooting of a 10-year-old boy in Miramar Ranch was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on felony charges including involuntary manslaughter and criminal storage of a firearm.

Todd Francis, 56, is charged in the June 4 death of neighbor Eric Klyaz, who had been playing with Francis’ daughter in the garage of the family home when the shooting occurred.

Eric Klyaz. Dingeman Elementary School yearbook photo

Eric suffered a single gunshot wound to his chest.

The girl, who was 9 at the time of the shooting, appeared briefly at the San Diego Superior Court hearing. Now 10, she walked into the room accompanied by her mother, attorneys and a dog used to comfort young witnesses, but she did not get up on the witness stand.

Although I understand the usual complaint about comparing gun ownership to gun murders as opposed to comparing gun ownership to overall murders, I also realize that since two-thirds of all murders are done with firearms, the complaint is meaningless. More guns = more gun murders = more murders.

A man was hospitalized Wednesday after his girlfriend accidentally shot him in the knee.

The couple had just finished hunting Wednesday morning and the woman was unloading her Remington Bolt Action Rifle when it accidentally fired into her boyfriend's knee, said Summit County Sheriff's Capt. Justin Martinez.

"There does not appear to be anything suspicious about this, that we had a domestic, that this was intentional. At this time the investigation is showing that it appears to be completely accidental," Martinez said.

Do you see the problem?

As long as we consider accidents perfectly acceptable we cannot expect to cut their numbers.

No, actually; it's a robot planted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, and on Saturday morning a Florida man pulled over, got out of his car, andshot it, prompting police officers to emerge from a nearby hiding spot and charge him with shooting deer during closed season, discharging a firearm from a roadway, and taking deer from a right-of-way.

"He crossed a ditch and walked up toward the fence carrying a rifle," the report stated. "He placed the rifle on the fence to steady himself and shot at the replica," hitting it in the neck.

The man was arrested, saying he knew that hunting season was closed and that shooting deer from a roadway is illegal, and was released Sunday after posting $1,120 in bonds. He will appear in court December 12, facing a year in jail and $2,500 in fines if convicted.

In spite of this anecdotal example, the APPS program is a major success. For every case like this one in which people are "wrongly" targeted for gun confiscation, 50 or 100 others are disarmed who are truly dangerous and unfit. The result is California is safer than it would otherwise be.

Another point raised in the video is the difficulty in predicting future violent behavior. Even if you take all the mentally ill people or all the mentally ill people who abuse drugs, only a tiny percentage of them will ever do violence.

One response is to disarm them anyway. That's not what I say. I say this dilemma cries out for the one-strike-you're-out policy for those who do misuse guns. Once a person displays the inability to safely use guns, they lose their right to do so. Simple.

The Daily BeastZimmerman's recent arrest for domestic violence, and attempt to pin the blame on his girlfriend, should put an end to the debate over Trayvon Martin's killing.

Now, either Zimmerman is the unluckiest guy on earth—surrounded by people who want to cause him harm—or he is an aggressive and confrontational man who knows enough to keep himself out of the criminal justice system.

A federal law prohibiting anyone convicted of domestic violence from possessing a gun is a legitimate and constitutional measure to keep firearms out of the hands of people who might harm others in the household, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The law, as originally adopted, barred gun possession by those convicted of violent felonies, but was extended by Congress in 1996 to cover misdemeanor convictions of domestic violence, the most common charge for physical assaults in the home.

The ban is permanent unless the offender later gets a state court to erase the conviction from the records. Those convicted of misdemeanors in California can get their convictions erased after they have completed their sentences and persuaded the courts that they have "lived an honest and upright life" for a sufficient period of time.

Creigh Deeds hugs his son, Gus, in 2009.Business InsiderVirginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, a former Democratic candidate for governor, has been critically wounded after he was stabbed in his home this morning, Virginia State Police said at a press conference this afternoon. Deeds' son, Gus, is dead from a gunshot wound.

A Bath County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman told Business Insider this morning that there had been an "incident at a residence in Millboro, Virginia."

"Virginia State Police are on the scene of an assault of a state legislator that took place Tuesday morning," police said in the release. "Senator Creigh Deeds has been transported to U.Va. Hospital in Charlottesville for treatment of serious injuries sustained in the assault at his residence."

She said that police are not looking for any suspects in the incident, but that the "motive and sequence of events are still under investigation."

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

This week’s Second Amendment hero is Christopher William Strube of Centerville, Iowa, a concealed-carry permit holder who accidentally discharged his .45 while in Walmart, kept shopping, paid for his items, and left, as if nothing had happened. Take it away, Chris:

Strube was shopping Sunday afternoon with his .45-caliber gun in his pocket, when a bottle he was carrying bumped into the gun and caused it to fire one round, police said. Strube told police that after the gun went off, he paid for his items and left the store.

Employees and customers said they heard a gunshot and smelled gun powder. Police later found a .45-caliber bullet inside a can of beans.

No one was injured, and Strube does have a valid concealed weapon permit, police said.

According to the prosecution, Baldwin police were called to a home on Elmwood Drive on Feb. 10 after they received a call that he was suicidal and walking around inside with a shotgun.

When officers arrived, Lijewski opened the door but refused to show his hands. He tried to close the door, but a Baldwin officer put his foot on it, and Sgt. Ralph Miller pushed his shoulder against it to open it.

The first officer’s gun went off, and struck Sgt. Miller between his protective vest and his belt.

According to the prosecution, the shot shattered the officer’s pelvis and caused paralysis in the lower part of one leg. Sgt. Miller must now use a cane to walk and it is unlikely he will be able to return to work.

James Harrison WolfLocal news reportsA Seminole man was arrested Nov. 18 after accidentally shooting a 17 year old under his care.

James Harrison Wolf, who has prior convictions of crimes in California, is being held on $7,500 bond at the Pinellas County Jail. He was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Wolf also is a registered sex offender.

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s detectives the shooting happened just before midnight Sunday, Nov. 17, at a private residence on Anchorage Circle in Seminole.

Detectives said Taylor Titus, 17, left his home about 9 p.m. without telling his caregivers, James Wolf, 55, and Nancy Wolf, 56, and returned home shortly before midnight. When Titus got home, Wolf was preparing to go to sleep and had turned off all the lights in the home. Wolf then heard a noise coming from the back of the home, grabbed his handgun and went to check his residence.

Wolf noticed a subject near the backdoor and ordered him to freeze. The subject began to walk towards Wolf. Wolf then fired one shot, hitting the subject. When the subject stumbled towards Wolf, he realized it was Titus.

What is happening in California, as shown in this Fresno Bee article, is slow motion gun confiscation over time. California has established gun confiscation squads that move through California confiscating guns that were registered. As predicted in the essay "Gun Registration is Gun Confiscation" written in 2000, gun confiscation is not being implemented in massive door to door searches, though such confiscations have happened in recent history, such as in the Philippines in 1972, and even during a flood in Canada this year (2013).

The agents are part of the California Department of Justice's Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS), a program that takes firearms from people barred from owning them. The law says that group can include ex-felons and people deemed to be mentally unstable.

Because the agents are using registration lists, and it is illegal to sell a firearm in California privately (all sales must go through federal dealers), the "I sold it" excuse is not allowed:

Team members say they are dogged: They will press a prohibited person to allow them to search a home to look for the gun and ask to see the paperwork if they are told a weapon has been sold.

This is the purpose of gun registration and the requirement to report a gun as stolen. With these requirements, a person does not have the legal recourse to simply say the gun was sold, stolen, lost, or given away. The presumption of property rights in simple possession has been lost. Unless you can show that you have documented permission from the state, possession of a gun is de-facto illegal.

The agents are in full tactical gear, and claim that the job is very dangerous. I have yet to see a single article about a gun fight that resulted from these confiscation raids.

I can't see what's wrong with this? It almost sounds like a gun-control site describing how well things work in California.

Removing guns from people who are unfit to own them is a far cry from the alarmist version of "confiscation" that the gun nuts often use. And even these most fanatical of gun-rights fanatics admit that not a single gun fight has resulted. Maybe the 3%ers are more like the .03%ers.

Another racially charged shooting, this time in Detroit, has restarted the debate about American gun culture.

You’ll remember all too well the antecedent in Florida involving Trayvon Martin, the unarmed African American in a hoodie who was killed on his way home from the store by George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman with a pistol on his hip. The Detroit case concerns Renisha McBride, an unarmed 19-year-old black woman shot and killed by a white homeowner in the middle of the night under circumstances that are still murky.

McBride’s violent death is certain to command national attention. Murder charges against the homeowner, announced on Friday, elicited praise from some black community leaders. Four blunt points to consider as the debate unfolds:

1. We don’t know what happened before McBride’s killing, and it matters.

2. Once again, race matters.

3. Some liberals will capitalize on McBride’s death with dubious calls for gun control.

4. Acknowledging the Second Amendment does not excuse gun owners from being careful.

A 21-year-old man died of a gunshot wound early Sunday morning in Bay Ho, San Diego police said.

Police went to investigate a reported shooting on Gallatin Way near Havasupai Avenue about 1 a.m. when a man with a gunshot wound was found lying in the front lawn of a residence, Lt. Mike Hastings said.

Witnesses said a long-time friend was showing the victim a gun when it fell, went off and struck him in the chest, Hastings said.

The wounded man was taken to a hospital where he later died, Hastings said.

Local news reportsThe S.C. Department of Natural Resources filed charges against Christopher Merck in connection to a hunting accident Nov. 1 in Abbeville County that resulted in the death of Bradford Phillip Todd.DNR charged Merck, 53, with one count of criminal negligent use of firearms, death results, according to DNR Capt. Robert McCollough. The men did not know each other, McCollough said.At the time, Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley ruled the death accidental.One of the hunters was sitting in a tree stand, fired a shot and struck the victim, who was on the ground, McCullough reported earlier.McCollough noted the bullet, which struck the victim in the back, was fired from a .300-caliber Winchester Magnum hunting rifle.

You know what happens next, right? The lawyers plea bargain it down to a mere slap on the wrist. Next year he'll be out there shooting wildly in the woods again.

The Deep South, Greater Appalachia and The Far West have the highest rates of deadly assault, but their legislators still resist stricter gun reforms. In April, 12 of the 14 Senators from the seven Deep South states voted against a background checks bill, which has since stunted gun reform progress.

Woodard theorizes that this regional resistance among policymakers and populace depicts the historically rooted value on individual liberties and anti-interventionism.

In the Deep South, the fight over slavery created an ongoing battle against federal powers and a deep strain of anti-federalism which lingers today. Likewise, Appalachia was founded by settlers from war-ravaged areas like Northern Ireland, Northern England and the Scottish

Lowlands, where people grew familiar to violence as they struggled in a bloody fight for independence against the British. And in the Far West, its settlers were tied to Eastern powers that fought against outside Western intervention.

The Northern regions like Yankeedom and The Midlands, however, experience less gun violence because of their peaceful and religious roots, according to Woodard.

Yankeedom experiences less than two deaths per 100,000 people from gun violence each year and in its six states, 11 of the 12 senators voted in favor of expanded background checks in April.

"Police say parents should have and use safes in the home, so kids don't confuse a gun for a toy."

But, the gun-rights fanatics are against making such a thing the law. They even oppose charging the grieving parents with manslaughter. They've suffered enough, why should they lose their gun rights and he held responsible for their negligent actions?

Local news reportsIn the first shooting, a Phelps man was injured after his gun discharged while he was cleaning it Friday night.

Deputies say 27-year-old Nicholas Tavano was cleaning his handgun at his home when it discharged. The round hit his left thigh and exited out of the back of his knee.The second shooting happened near Wells Curtice Road in Canandaigua Saturday morning.

Deputies say in that shooting, 48-year-old Kevin Perrin was hunting on family property. At around 10:00 a.m., Perrin attempted to step over a log when his gun discharged, hitting him in the lower leg.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Texas A&M University Law Professor Mary Margaret “Meg” Penrose (Photo credit: Hugh McQuad)Guns dot comTexas A&M University Law Professor Mary Margaret Penrose said it’s time to repeal and replace the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution at a Friday symposium held at the University of Connecticut’s School of Law.

Citing recent mass shootings, such as the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and the one at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, Penrose argued that the government and the courts were not doing enough to curb gun-related violence.

According to CT News Junkie, Penrose first asked the audience of lawyers and law school students, “How many of them felt the legislative and judicial responses to gun violence have been effective?”

Not a single person raised their hand, allegedly.

Then she said, “I think I’m in agreement with you and, unfortunately, drastic times require drastic measures … I think the Second Amendment is misunderstood and I think it’s time today, in our drastic measures, to repeal and replace that Second Amendment.”

Penrose, a self-described “agnostic” on the issue of guns, went on to say that nixing one’s Constitutional right to keep and bear arms would give the state’s more latitude to decide for themselves how to regulate gun ownership and concealed carry.

A Portland woman found with a gunshot wound in her head Thursday night in Scarborough was the victim of an accidental shooting, police said Friday.

Carol Dorney, 47, was transported to Maine Medical Center after Scarborough police responded to a reported shooting at 38 Running Hill Road and found the Portland woman wounded in the driveway.

Police received the call at 9:44 p.m. Thursday, according to a Friday morning news release issued by the department.

After detaining what the release called “several people” from the scene, investigators declined to press charges against anyone, Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse of the Scarborough Police Department said Friday.

“The initial investigation has indicated that this was an accidental discharge of a firearm, and it doesn’t look like there are going to be any charges,” Rouse told the Bangor Daily News.

According to Rouse, the homeowner at the location was confused about an altercation taking place in his driveway, heard somebody say, “I’ll kill you” and mistakenly believed the threat to be directed at him. The homeowner then came out of his residence with a gun, lost his handle on the weapon, and it fired as he bobbled it.

“He didn’t mean to aim it or anything,” Rouse said. “He was just carrying it out.”

This is another of the countless examples of the incredible nonchalance which is the normal response to gun misuse that results in injury or death.

ExpressThe Colt .45 revolver was a favourite weapon of the notorious outlaw, who terrorised America’s Mid-West in the 19th Century.

After the Civil War, James gained celebrity status by holding up banks, stagecoaches and trains with his gang of bandits.

He was shot dead, aged 34, in 1882 by Bob Ford, a gang member secretly hired as a hitman by the Missouri state governor Thomas Crittenden.

The Colt then passed to James’s son Jesse Junior, who gave it to a doctor in 1923 as a bond after he was hurt in a car crash. Congressman Frank Boykin owned the pistol until 1975 when he sold it to a US collector.Bidding will start at £250,000 at the sale in Los Angeles on November 24.

Portsmouth resident, attorney Randall Pratt, appears in Seabrook Circuit Court on Thursday to ask a judge to overrule the Portsmouth Police Department's denial of his conceal-carry license, to penalize the police chief and to order the Police Department to reimburse him for his legal costs. Attorney Randall was asked to turn over a tablet computer with an unauthorized recording of a conversation with Capt. Mike Schwartz.